- Kailyn Devlin & Joshua Cheetham
- BBC News
image source, True community
Former US President Donald Trump posted this AI-generated picture of himself, but a closer look reveals he’s missing fingers.
All images published in this article are fake.
Fake images created by artificial intelligence (AI) tools depicting Donald Trump have surfaced on social media over the past week.
Many have dismissed the arrest of the former president as false, saying that he will face indictment in the coming days for allegedly paying the woman he had an affair with.
As of now, no criminal charges have been brought against the former president.
Many of those who shared the pictures pointed out that they were fake and didn’t seem to fool many, but some people seem to be fooled.
Thursday, Trump also shared an AI-generated image On his own social network, Truth Social. It showed him kneeling in prayer.
What are some telltale signs of AI-generated images? And how can you tell the real from the fake?
Do you see anything strange?
image source, Twitter
This picture looks realistic, but take a closer look at Trump’s right arm and neck.
Images circulating online, like the one above, appear surreal and more like staged art displays than in-the-moment photographs.
A closer look reveals some clear signs that something isn’t quite right.
Look at the center of the image. Trump’s hand is too shortAnd the police officer on the left grabs something It looks more like a claw than a human hand.
Similarly, if you pay attention Troop neckYou will notice that his head is superimposed on the picture.
Henry Ajder, AI expert and BBC radio series host The future will be integratedHe says current technology isn’t very good at rendering certain parts of the body, especially the hands.
“If you zoom in on the images, you often see anomalies like the number of fingers,” he says.
What are others saying?
A simple Check some news sites It’s a surefire way to verify that Trump hasn’t been arrested or charged, at least not yet.
If Trump faces charges, it will be front-page news around the world. You can imagine the media frenzy if the former president had somehow escaped from the police.
Another good idea is to think about the context in which an image is shared. Who shares it and what are their motives?
Mostly people They can share images to amplify their political views without verifying the authenticity of the photosAjdar says.
“We’ve seen other very crude examples of fakes, like the downplaying of Nancy Pelosi appearing drunk,” he adds. “It was a crude manipulation, and yet many people were deceived by it, or at least wanted to believe it.”
image source, Eliot Higgins
What is blurry here? Look at the faces in the crowd.
A closer look at the photos reveals more suspicious details.
The Skin colorsunnatural And this Faces with waxy or hazy features Strong indications that the image is fake.
In the image above, a person with a blurred face is clearly visible in the upper right. And Trump’s hair appears blurry, while his face is in focus.
image source, Eliot Higgins
Are those cops really after Trump or are they looking for something else?
Also, artificial intelligence technology has not yet mastered the accurate representation of eyes.
In the image above, the agents appear to be chasing Trump, but they’re looking in a completely different direction.
A problem in the future?
Artificial intelligence experts told the BBC that fake images are “nothing new”, with the speed of progress in the field and the potential for misuse something to worry about.
“Synthetic content is evolving at a rapid pace, and the gap between genuine and fake content is becoming increasingly difficult to discern,” says Mounir Ibrahim of digital content analytics firm Truepic.
Experts agree that Trump’s popularity makes counterfeiting easier to detect. But images of unknown people can make the task difficult, and technology improves all the time.
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